A P1.4 BILLION finger pier which is an extension of the Cebu International Port (CIP) will be inaugurated in August to meet the increasing demand in international trade.
Cebu Port Authority (CPA) General Manager Angelo Verdan said the Oriental Port and Allied Services Corp. (Opascor) constructed the finger pier subject to deduction of its share from wharfage fees of international cargoes.
Opascor, a successful workers’ enterprise, has been the exclusive cargo handling service provider at the CIP since the presidency of Corazon C. Aquino.
Verdan said the finger pier can accommodate two 250-meter full-length ocean-going vessels which will unload imported goods from different countries, and may load Philippine products for export.
The tip of the finger pier can accommodate two roll-on/roll-off (roro) vessels that would transfer imported cargoes from the ocean-going vessels to the different consignees at Mactan Economic Zone in Lapu-Lapu City using 10-wheeler trucks.
With these trucks getting directly onto the roro vessels, which travel by sea, Verdan said traffic would be decongested because the trucks would no longer have to use the roads that pass through Mandaue City.
Another significant thing about the finger pier is it will allow the CIP to accommodate more ships.
Due to the increasing demand, Verdan said the future Cebu International Container Port in Tayud, Consolacion, Cebu will also be an extension of the CIP.
He said the new Consolacion port could accommodate only two vessels at one time, which means it could not accommodate other foreign vessels if four or six of them arrived in Cebu at the same time.
During the time of Verdan’s predecessor, Edmund Tan, the plan was to convert the CIP into a berthing area for cruise ships, while the CIP container storage would become a business district.
Verdan said that plan was changed because the demand for more ports for international cargoes increased.
He said Cebu is economically ahead of other provinces because of the international port. (EOB)